Recently, my mind has taken quite a few strolls down memory lane.  It has been kind of fun to recall things that happened at school, home, and with friends. For decades I never wanted to reminisce about growing up because it was not a great time.  Life was hard in that old dilapidated, four-room house where ten people lived. 

Today a memory played over and over on the projector of my mind.  I want to share that memory. The reason I am sharing part of my story is to give hope.  My purpose today is to say, “There is healing in the Name of Jesus.   There is hope in the Name of Jesus. There is new life in the Name of Jesus.” 

I was only six years old.  Six years old should be such a fun time for a child, but I found myself hiding in an abandoned building sobbing.  Family is supposed to be the safest place on earth, but what happens when it isn’t?  Just one hour earlier my life was forever changed through the abusive actions of a close family member.  That abuse would continue off and on for the next twelve years.  After leaving for college, the abuse stopped, but the fear, anger, trauma, and shame would live with me for years. I was trapped in a prison built by trauma.

That was a sad time, but today I am here to testify of the goodness of God.  I just came to proclaim that we do not have to be held hostage by the pain that family or anyone else has inflicted!   When one knows Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, there is healing for a broken heart, a broken dream, and a broken life.  I wish someone had explained to me that Jesus wanted to open the door of the prison cell in which I was trapped.

Satan does not care how we react to events that have traumatized us, as long as we don’t turn to Jesus Christ for true healing.  The devil loves it when we succumb to the pain of life, rather than let healing waters wash over us.  It took me quite a few years to get there but get there I did! 

In this brief narrative, I cannot possibly cover the whole process of my healing journey.   Childhood trauma is not an easy subject to discuss, yet so many need to be heard and healed.  

Today, I’m mad!  I am mad that the devil has convinced so many that they will forever be in a prison of what someone did to them.  Trauma is inflicted on far too many.  I personally believe it is an epidemic in today’s sexually charged, dysfunctional atmosphere.  I want to shout from the rooftops that there is HOPE, there is HEALING!

Many come to Christ for salvation, but never know the joy of being healed by His power.   Today, I can testify that I am not just living – I am thriving!  I found the source of true healing, and my hope is that I can help others to find that same healing. You can live an abundant life!   You can thrive!  You can get your life back!  Healing changes life!

If you are someone who is trapped in a prison cause by childhood abuse, let me say that I am so sorry for what you experienced.  I literally get choked up thinking about what has happened to so many.  What happened to you is inexcusable.   I wish I could be right there right now and wrap my arms around you. 

The healing journey is not always an easy one, and it looks different for each person.  The road usually requires companions to accompany us – a good counselor, a loving family member, a small group, a great church family, or other resources, and the most-trusted companion of all JESUS CHRIST.

Abuse is a sad reality, but it is not beyond the healing touch of God. The Lord God can redeem and restore. I am one of millions who can sing the song of healing. God wants to heal YOU.   

Ephesians 3:20 tells us, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”   This is my new reality.  How, might you ask?  I am no longer in that old, abandoned building.  I now live in a house of love, built by God and family.  My companions on the journey helped to bring about healing. I have lived a life beyond what I ever imagined.

Ephesians 3:20 is also for you!  God can and desires to do more than you can imagine in your life.   Join hands with God and other companions and start the journey of healing today! 

As an elementary school student, I learned reading, writing, and arithmetic. Unfortunately, I also learned that I was poor, dirty, and unpopular.  I am not sure I had ever realized that before being a pupil at Willow Drive Elementary.  Over the six years spent at the school, I became increasingly self-aware and in my case that was not a good thing. 

A memory of fifth grade has been rolling around in my head today.  Each day at recess, we played kickball.  I was a captain and another girl that we will call Beth was a captain.  Each day we would make the same choices of who would be on our team.  One by one we called their names and they came and stood with us as we prepared for the battle on the kickball field.  My team always consisted of the not so popular or not so athletic ones.  Beth would always choose the popular kids and the athletic kids.  Every single recess, my team got pulverized. We could never defeat them. 

One day it dawned on me that the problem was my choices.  Because my mindset was that I was less than or felt rejected, I would never allow myself to make victorious choices.  (That was my mindset, not necessarily those of others.)  I chose to walk in defeat, rather than rise above the lies that I told myself.  Lies like:  nobody wants to be on your team, those other people don’t like you, you will always lose because it’s what you were born to do.  Lie after lie filled my mind.  

I’m not sure what happened, but on a Thursday recess I decided to choose differently. I chose athletic kids, I chose both popular and unpopular people.  I chose differently because I was tired of being defeated.  I can still clearly picture the look on Beth’s face. She was shocked that I would dare choose differently than before, and she wasn’t happy about it.  I marched on the field ready to play ball.  We smoked them that day!   I jumped.  I shouted.  I smiled.  I experienced victory!  

What was the difference between that Thursday and all those other days?  The difference was my choices.  I chose to override what my mind was telling me, and I would take authority over those thoughts, and I would position myself for victory.

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Colossians 3:1-2. (ESV)

As a child of God, we do not have to stay defeated by our thought lives.   As I sat with the Lord this morning, I began to realize how easy it is to live like that fifth grader, never expecting to have victory and making choices that promise defeat.    Too often, we hear about peace from God but never experience it.  We hear about victory from God but feel defeated.  We hear about the joy of the Lord but remain sullen.  Why?  Mindset. 

As believers, you and I have been raised with Christ and we are to seek things above.  We are to set our minds on things above.  That is a choice.   Beth was not happy when I made the choice for victory.  The devil will not be happy when you decide not to keep your mind filled with the problems of earth and a mindset that says that it will always be this way.  There is  a phrase that’s been around awhile and one that we would do well to use.  When we walk out on the field of life and Satan is ready to defeat us, we should be very vocal and very firm, “Not today, devil, not today!”   I must choose to keep my mind stayed on Jesus and the work He has done in my life.   I am going to live and experience the victorious life that is mine!

Today, I am going to walk out on the field of life and choose victory!  Even if Beth is staring me in the face, I choose victory.  Even if Satan is whispering in my ear, I choose victory.   Today, I choose to keep my mind on Jesus Christ who is sitting at the right hand of the Father making intercession FOR ME!  I choose victory!  How about you?